Previously on The Afterparty, we went back in time to witness the occurrences at the much talked about Saint Patrick’s Day party. Unfortunately, the flashback wasn’t any help in eliminating Aniq as the prime suspect to Xavier’s murder. Seeing that her crush is in trouble, Zoë implies she had motive to kill the pop star and is ready to share her side of the night’s events.
The night of the high school reunion, Zoë finds herself at a crossroads. Many of the attendees know about her problems in her personal life and tiptoe around her. Although now single after her recent divorce combined with the nostalgia of reliving her youth make the assistant principal want to let loose for one evening.
This episode of The Afterparty tackles the animated feature, which fits right in with the artsy Zoë. There is a hand drawn aesthetic creating unique caricatures of the actors. The genre provides a playful tone and helps complement the comedy. Additionally, it’s amusing jumping back and forth between cartoon and live-action with the latter grounding the story. Animation is also the most effective way to visually represent the different sides of Zoë, which we see plenty of, each with their own distinct look and personality. Like any good adult animation, there are funny background gags that you have to pay attention to in order to catch such as Yasper and Xavier’s original band’s name.
“Zoë” continues to fill in the holes of the overall narrative. It sheds light on previous events such as who is threatening Chelsea and who fired the arrow at her during the afterparty. More importantly, we witness firsthand the titular character’s mixed feelings towards Aniq. There is definitely a spark there but nowhere near the level Aniq implied in the series premiere. If so, she wouldn’t have been so open to Xavier’s advances. However, as the night progresses, it’s touching to see how she does develop more genuine feelings and he wins over her different personas. Will she still feel the same way when she learns Aniq has been listening in to her statement in an invasion of privacy?
Those of a similar age receive a relatable personal journey about starting over and the difficulty of finding love again. After being in a long-term relationship, Zoë is self-conscious about kissing someone new. Even though the potential of Aniq is out there, we have another self-discovery tale but this time about being able to love yourself. Hanging out with all her personalities makes Zoë realize she’s good company and prioritizes taking care of herself first.
We’ve seen everyone on The Afterparty has their own secrets and Detective Danner’s is out in the open now. It will be curious to see how the reveal affects the investigation. It’s a fascinating cliffhanger to leave out on since it puts the focus on someone not at the party. Also, considering how invested Danner is in the case and her intimate knowledge following the interviews, she could be Aniq’s last hope of evading jailtime. We’ll have to wait and see heading into the final two episodes.
With its embracing of the animated genre, “Zoë” is an appropriate exploration into the former art teacher where she learns to love again from a character you didn’t expect. The ending also changes the focus of the investigation building intrigue into the final episodes.
New episodes of The Afterparty are released Fridays on Apple TV+.
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